Legend

Approximately two hours after leaving the city of Gilm as an escort. There were no monster raids in particular, and Alektor's merchants were well on the streets.

Compared to when we went to the city of Gilm, there were no monster raids.

"Not at all. As much as I was cursed by something when I went, I've been attacked by monsters many times."

"Right. Without that number of raids, I guess I'd have had to drain less of my escort's health. And so are they..."

"Come on, now I can't help it. We survived more than that, so let's just say we enjoy their lives properly. And of course, when it comes to business."

I can hear the merchants talking like that from the carriage just ahead of Ray.

With some interest in its content, Ray traveled right behind the carriage to speak to the merchants.

Given the pure range of foes at any rate, Ray doesn't even reach under Seto's feet. And even if a monster attacked him, he decided that he would not be ambushed, even if he was more than alert to his surroundings while walking.

"When you came to the city of Gilm, were you so attacked by monsters?

Though the merchants were surprised for a moment by the suddenly hung voice, they soon opened their mouths with relief when they knew that the Lord of that voice was Ray.

"Oh, three times from the city of Abu Ero to the city of Gilm? No, there were four raids?

"Right. Four ice birds. That said, basically about a few like Goblins, Soldier Ants and Sword Bees. I couldn't reach 10 of them so I figured it out..."

"You never thought you'd get over 50 at the last Icebird."

"Oh."

"... That's a lot"

Listen to the merchants, Potty and grunting Ray.

Of course Ray never walked through the streets properly. Basically, when Ray was out of town, he rode a set. When it comes to walking around the streets properly, it would be about the bandit's crusade during the rank-up exam. Nevertheless, he was traveling off the street on his way to the bandit's Negijo. When we headed to the dungeon with the Oak settlement and Elaine and the others, the streets existed only halfway through because they were in a completely different direction from the city of Abu Ero.

"Well, it was a lot of raids, but it wasn't as unusual."

One of the merchants speaks up toward the conceived Ray.

Everyone was just nodding at the merchant's voice that so were the merchants around them.

In fact, it is by no means unlikely that you will become a monster or be attacked as a bandit on your way down the street. That's why we hire adventurers as escorts, and it was only natural in some ways that there would be more monster raids than this was the border in the first place.

"Is that usually the case? I just don't think you have to worry so much about the monster raid itself in this case."

……

I guess I didn't know what Ray was talking about. Each of the merchants I was listening to looked strange or tilted their necks.

Watching as he does that, Ray strokes his head to Seto walking with him near him.

"Grrrrrrrr"

Seto rings his throat gladly at the feel of being stroked. As he sees how it goes, Ray opens his mouth again.

"Anyway, there's a seto on this journey. Monsters with more than a certain amount of intelligence would hesitate to instinctively perceive differences in character and attack them."

"... but Icebird was fighting with absolutely no mind Seto coming as backup?

"I guess it's because I was already in a state of battle and excited"

Ray was the one who answers the merchant's question, but he's actually right that seeing the flaming tornado that Ray used inspired his fear and left him in a state of extreme excitement. But Ray himself didn't realize it.

"So you think a monster that only has some less intelligence will attack you?

"Oh. Goblin or something, to be specific, sounds typical. It seems inconsistent with what I just said, but I can't understand the difference in strength from Seto because I'm halfway intelligent. And..."

"And?"

To the words of the merchant urging ahead, Ray continues his words as he sees the way ahead for the carriage as if to confirm something.

"It is difficult for a human being to notice signs of Seto's emission without being too sharp. I actually need to see Seto with that eye... I don't recognize him as having a griffon. I mean, you're more of a bandit than a monster on this road."

"I see, maybe if they do say so. Anyway, there are quite a few bandits around the city of Subrusta."

"... are you that much?

Past Ray's brain was the face of a bandit leader who ran into him on his way to the city of Barr and was about to be raided. Though I didn't know that the bandits were named 'Meadow Wolves' or bandits with some of the finest fighting skills around the city of Subrusta.

What matters in a meadow wolf is not its scale, but its power of war. If it is large, there will also be variations in nature and in the quality of the bandits to which it belongs, and there are a few of them who say that the peasants just kept their weapons intact. But Egg, who leads the meadow wolves, did not add such amateurs to his people, but only selected those with some fighting power to join them. Furthermore, he conducts rigorous combat training every day, drawing a line on the battlefield with other bandits who are enjoying themselves in an enjoyable way.

"Oh. Somehow it's a city just off the border. I mean, it's a pile of treasure if you try to bandit a carriage loaded with rare merchandise brought from the border. There's no point in not attacking."

"... you know that, but no lords or proxies of lords in the city of Subrusta will send out crusaders?

Speaking of course, it was a natural Ray question, but the merchants shake their heads in sigh.

What was on its face was such things as ridicule, ridicule, and sympathy.

"I do send knights on a regular basis. But that's kind of nominal against the top, too. I really don't think about sweeping away bandits at all."

"Why? More bandits will also reduce the number of people passing through the streets. That would also affect the city's tax revenues."

"There are many reasons... but the biggest cause is probably the connection between the Lords' deputies and the bandits behind it."

Ray opens his eyes to that word that came out of the merchant's mouth as if it were nothing. But in the next moment he nodded as he was convinced the other way around.

"Maybe he did get a bribe or something... But as far as I'm concerned, it's only a surrogate, isn't it? Then if the nobleman, the original lord of the city, finds out, instead of imprisoning you, you'll be sentenced to death?

"Sure, that could happen if tax revenues dropped dramatically... but somehow, this street is the only one connected to the city of Gilm. I mean, you have to go down this street to get to the border, and then more than a certain number of merchants and merchants are secured. I guess some tax revenues don't fall to the point where nobility sees them."

"... I see"

One of the merchants, who nodded at the merchant's words and frowned upon the cunning wit of the Lords surrogate, but saw it and mistakenly thought it was unpleasant against the bandits, reaches out of the carriage and lightly taps his shoulder wrapped in Ray's dragon robe.

"Ma, you won't have to worry this time. Anyway, I don't even think there's a guy like him heading to the edge at this time of winter other than Mr. Alektor. When that happens, I'm waiting for a prey that I don't know when it's coming... I don't know how to imitate it."

"I hope so.... Well, I get the point. Be as careful as you can against bandits. I don't know when it's going to happen, even though it's unlikely."

That's what I told the merchant, walking down the street with Seto on perimeter alert away from the carriage.

About 6 hours after I left the city of Gilm. The sun, which was burning in the morning, had already come to the top now.

"You're hungry. Shouldn't it be time for lunch?

"It's a bad place. At least until the monsters find somewhat harder to find, like a rock shade."

Ray's ears also heard the merchants talking from a carriage traveling near Ray and Seto.

(It's true it's time to get hungry)

I turn my gaze to Seto walking next door, thinking that way in my heart. Then there, too, he complained silently that the hungry Seto would give him something to eat with his gaze toward Ray as his throat rattled.

"I can't help it. Look, now bear with me till lunch."

While giving Ceto the dried meat removed from the mysteries, keep going for another 30 minutes… Eventually it passes to a place where there is a huge rock like a little rocky mountain, about 5m high, beside the street. And at the same time I see that rock, the carriage slows down.

And from the carriage ahead, Alector descends...

"Hey, let's have lunch here. Prepare yourselves!

That's what I said to the carriage near Ray and the others.

The merchants who hear that also get off the carriage one after the other, as they say they couldn't wait, prepare a quick bonfire, boil water, and distribute sandwiches to each of them that they must have bought in the city of Gilm.

"Look, so is Ray"

It was Seto who received it from one of the merchants and then turned his gaze.

"Gru?"

"Oh, wait a minute. Seto's meals are prepared by Mr. Alektor. Sure..."

"Thank you for waiting"

Even Alektor must have been looking for the Rays. He kept a big bag about 1m close to them...

"Yes, go ahead. This is Seto's meal."

Give Ceto a chunk of meat that he took out of the bag and asked if it would be 1 kg.

"Gru!"

Ray had a surprising eye for Alector with Seto sideways eating up at the raw meat as he rattled his throat.

"The bag..."

"Yeah. It's a simple version of the item box. That said, I'm just borrowing this from a nobleman in this case."

"... about this one? Didn't you come to the city of Gilm at Alector's discretion?

"There's a lot of darkness behind it."

In that manner of grandiose proclamation that he was doing something dark behind him, Ray gives a pocan look for a moment, then a bitter smile.

Alektor also turned his gaze to such a ray with a grin, when he tried to invite Ray to a place where the merchants and Shizukuishi's faces were gathered.

"Grrrrrrrr"

In no time, Seto, who ate the meat, turns to Alector as he rattles his throat just a little more.

"... Huh? Hey, wait a minute, please. Did you eat that amount of meat in this short time?!?

A normal human would take about 30 minutes to eat 1 kg of meat. Rather, you are more likely to leave all that meat unattended. However, given the size of Seto's body, about 1 kg of meat was only about a snack.

It was Alektor who rushed to take out the next meat, but that meat also quickly subsided in Seto's belly… Eventually, Seto's lunch finally ends after about five more repetitions of the same thing.

At that time, Alector's cheeks were so convulsed that they were no more, but it would still have been happy in a way to not know Seto was about five minutes belly instead of eight.

We were all gathered for an easy meal called sandwiches and tea, but of course it's not like we're not on perimeter alert. Anyway, there's more to this line than the presence of Seto, be a monster or a bandit, and you can't come close without hooking up to Seto's senses if you're not one of the more high-level ones. Thanks to this, the line was relatively safe to eat.... although Alektor was cramping his cheeks thinking about the upcoming cost of food for Ceto's appetite more than expected.

Of course, it's not like I'm leaving everything to Seto. Ray and Reiki Shizukuishi adventurers eat while having a conversation, but still pay some attention to their surroundings.

In the meantime, we talked about the war between the Kingdom of Mireana and the Bestian Empire, which will surely happen next spring in the course of the merchants' conversation, and Ray, interested in the topic, turned his face to you.

"The Bestian Empire is in our favor, but our country is one that counts as a major power. I guess we'll end up without a clear settlement."

"But this time, you're talking about getting ready for a lot of things over there, right? In fact, we're talking about the Bestian Empire reaching out to the city of Gilm and making a lot of noise."

"No matter how prepared the Bestian Empire is, you'll be relieved to have a princess general at the Duke of Kelp"

"But you've been hit by the Princess General more than once before, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. Is that something that repeats the same mistake?

Ray was watching the merchants having a conversation while eating a sandwich, but unexpectedly enters that conversation.

"I'm sorry, can I ask you a further question now?

"Hmm? What?

One of the merchants turns to Ray as he pours a ham and cheese sandwich in warm tea.

In response to the merchant, Ray speaks out what he had always cared about.

"In the first place. Why is the Bestian Empire attacking this country over and over again? If there's going to be a war, it's going to cost a lot."

"... you don't know?

They were merchants who opened their eyes just to be heartfelt unexpected, but happiness or unhappiness had prevented Ray from knowing why the Besti Empire was so adamant about the Kingdom of Mireana. Of course, as soon as I looked it up, I might have figured it out, but it was behind me because it wasn't about monsters, demon stones, or guild requests.

"Oh. I don't know if you know, but I haven't been in the city of Gilm in a year. Until then, we lived like abandoned people."

In the end, he misrepresents his public ignorance with his usual excuses and encourages the merchant to continue his story.

"Right.... Well, to put it simply. The Bestian Empire exists in a place surrounded by mountains and land. It's a very wealthy country with lots of agriculture and mines because it's in such a place. We've been working on alchemy for the last 10 years. But there was always something I wanted for the Bestian Empire for 10, 100, or more years. That's... the ocean."

"The sea?"

"Oh. The Bestian Empire, surrounded by land, does not face the sea. And the sea... I mean, the harbor brings tremendous wealth to the country. There are other things like salt and seafood resources. They're craving it and they're attacking our country facing the sea."

"... I see"

Ray snorted at the merchant's words, but behind his brain was the figure of a warcraft soldier who fought in the city of Gilm. Warcraft soldiers made from monster demon stones that seem to live in the sea, like crab crusts and scales. Even though there is no ocean, it should have been very costly to make them.

(No, if the goal of the Bestian Empire is really the sea, then it's only natural to have warcraft soldiers who adapt to it in advance)

It was Ray who understood why the Bestian Empire was finally invading the kingdom of Mireana in the words of a merchant.